Conversational Commerce
If you step into the digital world, you'll find a sea of customers engaging with their favorite brands not just through traditional shopping methods but through messages, chats, and even voice commands. Welcome to conversational shopping!
This innovative approach to online shopping and eCommerce allows consumers to interact with brands through messaging apps and SMS for customer support, product-related questions, or personalized recommendations, conversational shopping makes everything happen in one place.
But many of you may not be familiar with the term, "conversational shopping..."
Conversational shopping is an innovative approach to online commerce where consumers can interact with a brand in a more personalized and immediate manner.
This interaction takes place through an omnichannel approach on messaging apps, chatbots, or platforms like Humankind that support 1:1 human connection.
In a conversational shopping scenario, consumers can access customer support, ask product-related questions, get personalized product recommendations, and find relevant content all within a single platform. It's like having a friendly and helpful personal assistant at your fingertips, ready to enhance your shopping experience with their expertise and assistance.
Through this approach to modern commerce, shopping online becomes easier, more enjoyable, and highly personalized, making it a truly conversational experience.
So, what's the science behind conversational shopping? It's all about conversational commerce.
This concept refers to the intersection of messaging and shopping- using technology to facilitate transactions. Engaging customers in real-time, providing a balance between personalization, product expertise, and efficiency for a better shopping experience.
In the grand scheme of things, it's not just about chat and text; voice technology plays a significant role too. Platforms like Google Assistant and other voice assistants are becoming an integral part of conversational commerce, interfacing with users through voice commands.
The result? A seamless, user-friendly shopping experience that's as easy as having a conversation.
Now, you might be wondering, "How does this work in the real world?" Well, let's take a look at some examples of conversational commerce.
Imagine this: You're browsing Cascadia Vehicle Tents (CVT from here on), and you have a few questions about a Vehicle tent you're buying for your Tacoma before an Overlanding expedition.
Instead of scouring through the entire site for answers or waiting for an email response that may take days, you click on the icon that says, "Text with an Expert." This is conversational commerce software by Humankind in action, connecting you with an expert from CVT that can answer your questions in just minutes.
Want to know what size rack a particular tent fits? No problem. Need to know what type of fabric is used? They got you covered. Now, you can get all the answers you need in your journey to get the perfect Vehicle Tent!
Notable companies like Taylormade Golf, Saucony, OLAPLEX Haircare, and REN Clean Skincare have embraced this approach and are seeing dramatic results…
OLAPLEX has seen customer satisfaction (CSAT) increase to 4.94 (out of 5)... but I'm getting ahead of myself. You can check out the case study here if you’d like to learn more.
The best conversational shopping solutions use SMS (the most powerful channel) and combine it with human-led, 1:1 messaging to make customers feel supported and appreciated.
But how does conversational commerce work? How does it create this seamless bridge between businesses and consumers?
In a nutshell, conversational commerce involves a dialogue between a customer and a brand via various platforms, like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or a branded webchat. It provides a more interactive way to engage with customers, allowing them to ask questions and get immediate responses. The whole process makes the online shopping experience more personal and enjoyable, resembling a conversation with a helpful shop assistant.
But wait, you might be thinking, "Isn't that what conversational marketing does?" Yes, and no.
While conversational marketing is a dialogue-driven approach to marketing that uses real-time conversations to engage site visitors, conversational commerce takes it a step further. It focuses on how consumers interact with e-commerce brands through messaging apps or chatbots.
Humankind has chosen to focus on SMS as the main channel of communication for conversational commerce. This is because SMS is a universal platform that has nearly 100% open rates and response times that are orders of magnitude faster than email.
The question of which is better, Ai or Human is the age-old debate in conversational commerce.
On one hand, chatbots powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) provide an automated and scalable approach to customer service. They have an advanced understanding of natural language processing, meaning they can answer simple questions quickly and accurately.
As with most things in the digital world, artificial intelligence (AI) is at the heart of many recent conversational commerce newcomers like Wizard. And, AI technologies, such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLM), like GPT-3 and 4, are key drivers of this revolution as they provide the ability to scale conversations, but are they the best solution?
PwC found in a recent study of online shoppers that 82% were tired of dealing with Ai, workflow logic, and automated chatbot features. They wanted to interact with humans while making buying decisions - and they were willing to pay more for a human experience.
That's why as Humankind studies how to use Ai, NLP, and LLMs to supercharge human interactions, we don't want to replace the human element. Keeping the distinctly human touch is why customers who are making high-consideration purchasing decisions prefer our solution!
As the landscape of conversational commerce evolves, it's branching out into various forms, all aiming to enhance the customer's shopping experience. Let's take a look at some common types of conversational commerce:
In the world of conversational commerce, data is king. The key to creating a truly personal and efficient shopping experience lies in the collection and analysis of conversational customer data.
Humankind allows brands to collect rich zero-party and first-party customer data to empower personal shoppers, product experts, and marketers at the brand with data that can be turned into actionable insights.
Our data comes from quizzes, surveys, and real customer conversations, so you know it's the best data to understand your customers. This data provides valuable insights into customer preferences, sentiments, and pain points, helping businesses to refine products and tailor their services.
We mentioned earlier how conversational commerce is facilitated by various platforms. Now let's dive deeper into these conversational commerce platforms. They are specific software or services that provide the necessary tools and features for businesses to interact with consumers in a conversational manner.
Major eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) are integrating conversational commerce features to facilitate these interactions…
But what if you're looking for a more dedicated solution?
That's where platforms like Humankind Conversational Commerce Software come into play. Humankind is the only conversational commerce software on the market that allows brands to create a 1:1 human connection between themselves and their customers.
In the modern world of online shopping, personalization is crucial. Customers are looking for a shopping experience that's tailored to their needs and preferences- in fact, they expect it.
Conversational commerce software plays a significant role in delivering this personalized experience by engaging customers in real time. By providing personalized product recommendations and relevant content, conversational commerce platforms like Humankind make shopping online easier, more fun, and more personal.
The real-time, interactive nature of conversational commerce opens up excellent opportunities for upselling and cross-selling.
Brands can utilize customer data from conversations to recommend products that compliment the customer's current selection or encourage them to upgrade to a superior product. This not only boosts sales but also enhances the customer's shopping experience by providing them with relevant and helpful product suggestions.
Think about what your sales would look like if average order values (AOV) were 50% higher and repeat purchase rates were 2x. What would your customer's lifetime value (CLV) look like?
This is the power of conversational commerce - and Humankind is here to help you take advantage of it.
With the advent of conversational commerce, customer satisfaction has taken a front seat. Concepts like retail clienteling and human connection seemed lost to history - until concierge commerce made it cool again!
Conversational commerce makes it easy and fast for customers to get what they want- and they're happier with the service they receive. By providing connected human experiences, real-time responses, and personalized interactions, Humankind increases customer satisfaction and fosters deeper customer relationships.
For example, imagine that you've just paid hundreds of dollars to get your hair highlighted. Your stylist told you that OLAPLEX Haircare made a great product to care for and nourish your new color - but you can't remember which one they recommended.
With conversational commerce by Humankind, you can go to OLAPLEX.com, click "Text with an Expert," and chat with a real stylist who can recommend the product that fits your needs.
It's as simple as answering a couple of questions to help the OLAPLEX product expert address your immediate concerns, and 1, 2, 3... you got what you need.
Think of this experience like texting a friend... it really is that easy!
As we move into the future, conversational shopping continues to shape the landscape of eCommerce. The rise of AI, NLP, LLMs, and machine learning technologies, coupled with the growing popularity of messaging apps, voice assistants, and online chat platforms, is driving a shift towards more interactive and personalized shopping experiences.
The recent introduction of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) into the world of shopping will once again shift the landscape of conversational commerce. With these technologies, brands can provide an even more interactive and immersive shopping experience - but that's a topic for another day…
Despite the increasing role of AI, it's important to note that the heart of conversational shopping remains the 1:1 human connection. This is where brands like Humankind stand out, integrating technology with the human touch to provide a truly unique excellent shopping experience.
The key takeaway?
Conversational shopping isn't just a trend; it's a revolution in the way we shop, blending technology with human interaction to create a shopping experience that's engaging, personal, and immensely satisfying to customers.
To see how conversational commerce software can revolutionize your eCommerce business and create delightful shopping experiences for your customers, don't hesitate to book your demo with Humankind Conversational Commerce Software today. Discover the power of a 1:1 human connection in the world of online shopping and let your brand stand out in the digital crowd.
